Chapter 11
11:1 You showed their works through the hand of a holy prophet. 11:2 They passed through a desert without inhabitants and pitched tents in trackless places;
RABANUS. The former people, departing from Egypt under the leadership of Moses, journeyed through the deserts and pitched their tents in uninhabitable places, as the history of the Pentateuch recounts. In the same way, the people who follow now, that is, the Christians, journey through the desert of this world under the guidance of prophecy, so that, with Christ reigning, they may reach the homeland of the heavenly kingdom. This is also clearly stated by the Apostle Peter, who says: We have the more sure prophetic word, to which you do well to pay attention, as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts (2 Peter 1:19). [Rabanus Maurus, Commentary on Wisdom, PL 109] 780-856AD
11:3 they stood against enemies and defended themselves from foes. 11:4 They thirsted and called upon you, and water was given to them from a flinty rock, and relief for thirst from hard stone.
RABANUS. But what that rock signified, from which the Israelites drank, Paul testifies, saying: “They drank from the spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ” (1 Cor. 10:4). This rock, struck by the rod of the cross, which was foretold in the hands, that is, in the writings of the prophets, poured forth living water which fills all the elect and satisfies them with eternal fulfillment. Therefore, Truth itself says: “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink, and out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water” (Jn. 7:37-38). And elsewhere: “Whoever drinks the water that I will give him, it will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life” (Jn. 4:14). Therefore, this rock is called the highest because in it is contained the most abundant grace of the Holy Spirit; it is called a hard stone because it is firm and stable, upon which every wise man builds his house so that it is not moved by any storm. Concerning this, Moses also says in the song of Deuteronomy: “They sucked honey from the rock, and oil from the hard stone” (Deut. 32:13). Nowhere is such a thing read in the history; if the whole sequence of the Old Testament is reviewed, nowhere did the people suck honey from the rock, nowhere did they suck oil. But because, according to Paul’s word, the rock was Christ, they sucked honey from the rock who saw the deeds and miracles of our Redeemer. But they sucked oil from the hard stone who, after his resurrection, deserved to be anointed by the outpouring of the Holy Spirit; as if, therefore, the hard stone gave honey when the Lord, still mortal, showed the sweetness of his miracles to the disciples. But the hard stone poured out oil because, after his resurrection, now made obstructed, he poured forth the gift of holy anointing through the breathing of the Spirit. Of this oil it is said through the prophet: “The yoke will rot because of the oil” (Isa. 10:27). Indeed, we were held under the yoke of demonic domination, but we have been anointed with the oil of the Holy Spirit, and because the grace of liberty has anointed us, the yoke of demonic domination has rotted. [Rabanus Maurus, Commentary on Wisdom, PL 109] 780-856AD
11:5 For by the things by which their enemies were punished, through these same things they in their need were benefited. 11:6 Instead of an ever-flowing spring, a river troubled with blood, 11:7 as a rebuke of the decree for the slaughter of infants, you gave them abundant water unexpectedly, 11:8 showing through that thirst how you had punished their adversaries. 11:9 For when they were tried, though disciplined with mercy, they learned how, being judged in wrath, the ungodly were tormented;
RABANUS. He commemorates the blessings of God, which were bestowed upon the former people through divine mercy, when, as they thirsted, He brought forth water from the rock and refreshed them with abundant drink. Likewise, on the contrary, he recounts the punishments which their enemies suffered in the slaughter of their firstborn and the various calamities that, by the just judgment of God, came upon them. Mystically, however, it signifies that the people of God and the sheep of His pasture, whom the supreme shepherd redeemed at the price of His own blood, quench their thirst at the fountain of living water, and their persecutors, failing in eternal want, will be delivered to perpetual death. Similar to this is that which the Lord speaks through the prophet Isaiah against His adversaries, saying: Behold, my servants shall eat, but you shall be hungry. Behold, my servants shall drink, but you shall be thirsty. Behold, my servants shall rejoice, but you shall be put to shame. Behold, my servants shall sing for gladness of heart, but you shall cry out for pain of heart, and shall wail for breaking of spirit (Isa. 65:13-14). But that drink is to be understood here, which will spring from the fountains of Israel, which whoever drinks will have within himself a fountain of water springing up into eternal life, which also the Savior promises to drink with the apostles in the kingdom of the Father, which gladdens the heart of man, so that those who drink may say: Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness (Matt. 5:6). And the mother of the Lord, full of the Holy Spirit, prophesied: He has filled the hungry with good things, who previously did not have the food of the Lord, and the rich He has sent away empty (Luke 1:53), who were given for His burial, and whom, though they promised a prophet, they rejected. Concerning whom also in another place the Psalmist sings: The rich have lacked and suffered hunger (Ps. 30:10), that is, the people of the Jews. But those who seek the Lord, that is, the multitude of the Gentiles, will not lack any good thing. And when those serving Christ and believing in Him shall have rejoiced and praised the Lord for gladness of heart and joy, then those others will be put to shame, seeing others received into their place, and will cry out for pain of heart, fulfilling that which is written: There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth (Matt. 13:42), when the lambs of the Gentiles and the righteous will stand at the right hand, and the goats of the Jews and the wicked at the left, the former receiving eternal rewards, the latter everlasting punishments. But the regret of spirit, through pain of heart, is to be understood in the conscience of sinners, according to that which is written: Those who err in spirit will come to understanding (Isa. 29:24), and a contrite and humbled heart, O God, you will not despise (Ps. 51:17). The spirit is crushed when it is lifted up, as is written of the wicked king of Israel: The Lord hardened his spirit. And of the prince of the Babylonians, when his heart was lifted up and his spirit was hardened, so that in pride he said: This is Babylon, and I have made it (Dan. 5:20). [Rabanus Maurus, Commentary on Wisdom, PL 109] 780-856AD
11:10 for you tested these as a father admonishing them, but those others you examined as a severe king condemning them.
RABANUS. Whoever examines the reading of the Old Testament carefully, easily recognizes how God frequently chastised the Israelites, who sinned often, with deserved punishments, and again, when they repented, comforted them with timely comfort. However, as for foreigners, that is, the Egyptians and the Canaanites, judging them unworthy of His mercy, He exterminated them with harsh vengeance. [Rabanus Maurus, Commentary on Wisdom, PL 109] 780-856AD
11:11 And both the absent and the present alike were tormented; 11:12 for a double sorrow seized them, and groaning over the memories of the past.
RABANUS. What is said, that both the absent and the present were similarly tormented, either signifies according to history that not only those Egyptians who were present with Pharaoh before Moses and Aaron were struck by the ten plagues, but also all the others who dwelled throughout the land of Egypt were similarly punished; or it refers to the time when not only those whom the Israelites destroyed in each city by recent calamity suffered penalties, but also all the nations of the land of the Canaanites, hearing indeed the victory of the people of God and the power of the signs which were performed at their departure by the will of the Lord, were greatly terrified by them. This is also shown by the words spoken by Rahab the prostitute to the spies of Joshua: “I know,” she said, “that the Lord has given you the land; indeed, your terror has fallen upon us, and all the inhabitants of the land have suffered. We have heard how the Lord dried up the waters of the Red Sea at your entrance, when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan, Sihon and Og, whom you destroyed. And hearing these things, we feared, and our hearts suffered, nor did any spirit remain in us at your entrance. For the Lord your God, He is God in heaven above and on earth beneath” (Josh. 2:9-11). But although these things were done among the former people in the times of the law, nevertheless, conversely, the Jews who despised the incarnation of the Son of God and refused to accept His preaching, not only within their homeland but also wandering and exiled throughout the whole world, are tormented by various calamities; and the nations who received the faith of God and were converted from their idols to the true worship of the one God, when they sin, accepting paternal correction, are never cast away from the mercy of God. This is the change of the right hand of the Most High, so that those who were once the head now become the tail, and those who were once the tail now become the head. Lebanon has been turned into Carmel, and Carmel has been reckoned as a forest. The Lord is just in all His ways, and holy in all His works (Isa. 29); for therefore the first shall be last, and the last shall be first (Matt. 20:16). [Rabanus Maurus, Commentary on Wisdom, PL 109] 780-856AD
11:13 For when they heard that through their own punishments those others were being benefited, they perceived the Lord. 11:14 For the one who had long before been cast forth, and whom they had denied while mocking, at the end of the outcomes they marveled at, not thirsting like the righteous. 11:15 But in place of the foolish devices of their injustice, in which they were led astray and worshiped irrational serpents and worthless beasts, you sent upon them a multitude of irrational animals as vengeance,
RABANUS. The misery of the wicked is twofold, when the memory of past evils is not diminished, and the storm of present tribulations increases. Therefore, they have no hope of remedy in the future, because although they may fake repentance for their sins, they have no real intention of improving their ways. Therefore, it is written of the Jews in Psalm 79: When He slew them, then they sought Him, and they returned and sought God early; and they remembered that God was their helper, and the Most High God was their redeemer. And they loved Him with their mouth, and with their tongue they lied to Him, but their heart was not right with Him, nor were they steadfast in His covenant. (Ps. 78:34–37) He does not act in the same way toward the just . Why does He not do the same to them? Because they do not sin in the same way. For the just man falls seven times and rises again; but the wicked shall fall into evil (Prov. 24:16). For when the wicked has come into the depth of evils, he despises. [Rabanus Maurus, Commentary on Wisdom, PL 109] 780-856AD
11:16 so that they might know that by the things through which one sins, through these same things one is punished. 11:17 For your all-powerful hand, which created the world from shapeless matter, was not at a loss to send upon them a multitude of bears or bold lions 11:18 or newly created beasts full of rage, unknown, either breathing a fiery breath or hissing clouds of smoke or flashing terrible sparks from their eyes, 11:19 whose damage alone could have crushed them together, but whose very appearance, by frightening them, could destroy them. 11:20 And apart from these too, they could have fallen by one breath, pursued by justice and scattered by the breath of your power; but you arranged all things by measure and number and weight.
RABANUS. But for their senseless thoughts, their iniquities . According to their hardness and impenitent heart, they are storing up wrath for themselves on the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, for a hard heart will fare badly (Rom. 2:5). In the end, judgments are prepared for mockers and sinners will pursue evil, but good will be repaid to the just (Prov. 19:29). was not at a loss to send upon them a multitude of bears or bold lions or newly created beasts full of rage, unknown, either breathing a fiery breath or hissing clouds of smoke or flashing terrible sparks from their eyes . It was fitting that those who worshipped the creature instead of the Creator should receive vengeance from the very source from which they sought help. For the world itself fights against the senseless on His behalf. But since in the history of the Old Testament these types of unknown beasts, which are listed, are nowhere else mentioned as being expressed, so that such monsters would punish sinners, it is better to transfer this to a spiritual sense, so that we may understand that all idol worshippers, as well as heretics and schismatics, who follow the sects of their errors as if they were truth, are deservedly punished by spiritual beasts, that is, by unclean spirits, from whom the Prophet prays that faithful souls may be delivered by divine grace: “Do not give the souls who confess to you to the beasts” (Ps. 74:19). Their appearance is terrifying, their cruelty excessive, and their rage immense, because their entire intention is to pursue the human race with hatred and to bring them to be tormented with themselves in the torments of Hades. But since God condemns no one unjustly, and subjects no one to punishment undeservedly. [verse 20] But you have arranged all things in measure, number, and weight . For He does all things according to truth, judgment, and justice, and there is nothing disordered or inappropriate in His works and deeds, but He moderates and arranges all His judgments by the balance of the highest equity. This statement can also be applied to the condition of all creatures; because the almighty Creator made all His works, which He created from the beginning, with a definite number, measure, and weight. Of Him it is written: He counts the multitude of the stars, and calls them all by their names (Ps. 147:4). Therefore also it is read in Job: For He looks to the ends of the earth, and sees all things under the heavens, who made a weight for the winds, and measured the waters, when He gave the rain its law, and a path for the thunderstorm (Job 28:24-26). Therefore also it is said by someone [Philosopher Anitius Boetius 480–524 AD] : All things whatsoever have been constructed from the primeval nature of things seem to be formed by the principle of numbers, for this was the chief pattern in the mind of the Creator. Therefore the multitude of the four elements was changed, therefore the succession of times, therefore the motions of the stars and the revolution of the heavens. Since these things are so, and since the state of all things is shaped by the connection of numbers, it is also necessary that number itself always remains in its own substance equally. Who then is sufficient to comprehend this measure, this number, and this weight of God, so as to be able to describe all His arrangements under these three definitions? In measure, I think, consists quality; in number, quantity; in weight, proportion. These are balanced in the judgment and mercy of God, because they are enclosed within these two holy boundaries, by which He established, governs, and will judge the world; in these, God the just Judge cannot be comprehended, cannot be reproved. Therefore, all that we have said above, or will say, now lie hidden from us within the enclosure of these three: which will then be unlocked only by the keys of God's judgment and mercy, so that they may be known, when at the coming of the Lord they will be revealed, so that praise or punishment may be from God to each one. [Rabanus Maurus, Commentary on Wisdom, PL 109] 780-856AD
AMBROSIASTER. In Wisdom, it says, He who created the world from formless matter : and on the other hand, because we were made from nothing (Wis. 11:18, and Gen. 1:2). That God created confused substances at once, the sense of the Scriptures declares, with darkness, indeed, mingled. He called this confusion of things, that is, air, fire, water, earth, darkness, formless matter, as it is read in Genesis: But the earth was, he says, invisible and unformed (Gen. 1:2). From this confusion therefore He created the world by the established firmament, so that within it, with the waters gathered together into one, there might be a dwelling place for the human race. For the substances having been distinguished and separated, He made in the hollow a habitable home. [Ambrosiaster, Q&A on the Old and New Testaments, PL 35, 2 nd cat. Q.20]
ANASTASIUS. [Verse 20] Weight and measure govern and administer all things by the Lord . For when He had set the limit of life to one hundred and twenty years for those who lived in the time of Noah, after He saw sin increase and overflow, He did not wait for the prescribed limit, but cut it short and made it briefer, and in the hundredth year brought the flood upon all. So also to Abraham, He foretold that his offspring would be strangers, and He teaches the reason. For He says, the iniquities of the Amorites are not yet complete up to this point. They have not yet, He says, committed those sins which deserve to perish utterly; therefore I will not allow them to be handed over to you to be completely destroyed now, but I await the measure of iniquity. For our sins, which occur in time, fall under a measure, up to a certain quantity; and now our righteous Judge God inflicts punishments, to whom be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. [Anastasius of Sanai, PL 89, Questions 17] 620-700AD
AMBROSE. [Verse 20] Therefore, because fire overflows and boils, water also overflowed on the earth, lest the heat of the rising sun and the burning stars should scorch it, and an unusual vapor should harm the tender beginnings of things. How many springs, rivers, and lakes water the lands; is it not because some internal fire sends up vapor within them? For from where would trees sprout, or grain and crops break forth or be ripened, unless an inner fire also gave them life? This fire is often struck out from stones, and frequently leaps out even from wood itself when it is being cut. Therefore, just as the creation of fire is necessary so that things may remain ordered and arranged, and the kindness of heaven may temper the harshness of the waters; so also the abundance of waters is not superfluous, lest one should consume the other, because unless there is a suitable measure of each, just as fire dries up water, so also water extinguishes fire. And so He has weighed and measured all things ; for even the drops of rain are numbered for Him, as we read in the book of Job (Job 28:25). Knowing that there would easily be either a lack of things or the dissolution of the universe if one should prevail over the other, He has so balanced the losses of both; that fire should not consume too much, nor water overflow: but there should be a moderate reduction of each, which would remove the excess and preserve what is necessary. [Ambrose of Milan, Hexaemeron BOOK II ON THE WORK OF THE SECOND DAY. 3.12, PL 14] died 397AD
11:21 For it is always present with you to be mighty, and who will withstand the power of your arm?
RABANUS. Nothing is impossible for the Almighty, therefore no one can resist Him; for all things are placed in the will of the Lord, and there is no one who can resist His will. Whatever God willed, He did in heaven and on earth, in the sea and in the depths. Therefore, the arm of the Lord is none other than the only-begotten Son of God, to whom it is said through Isaiah: Arise, arise, put on strength, O arm of the Lord. Arise as in the ancient days, in generations of old. Was it not you who struck the proud one, who wounded the dragon? etc. (Isa. 51:9). The prophet speaks on behalf of the people to the arm of the Lord, and requests His coming, so that He who for many ages delivered His saints from dangers, now coming in person may defend His chosen ones from their enemies. [Rabanus Maurus, Commentary on Wisdom, PL 109] 780-856AD
He praises the omnipotence of God, because before Him all visible and invisible things are like a drop of dew and like a moment of the balance, all things.
11:22 For the whole world before you is as a speck on the scales, and as a morning drop of dew that has come down upon the earth.
RABANUS. Similar to this statement is what is read in Isaiah: Behold, the nations are as a drop from a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance (Isa. 40:15). And a little later: All the nations, he says, are as nothing before him, and are accounted by him as nothing and emptiness. (Isa. 40:17) This is meant to be understood as that the mind and reason and sense of the Lord, through whom all things were made, and without whom nothing was made, is the one of whom it is sung in the psalms: By the word of the Lord the heavens were established, and all their power by the breath of his mouth (Ps. 33:6). All the nations who do not know their creator, or the whole of mankind in comparison to God, are as a drop from a bucket and as the small dust of the balance, which with slight weight inclines to the other side; and just as the early morning dew-drop, which is easily dried when the sun rises, or as if a small drop flows from a bucket and is disregarded by the one carrying it, so the entire multitude of the nations, when compared to the heavenly splendor, and the ministries above, and the multitude of angels, is considered as nothing. [Rabanus Maurus, Commentary on Wisdom, PL 109] 780-856AD
11:23 But you have mercy on all, because you can do all things, and you overlook people’s sins, that they may repent.
RABANUS. Therefore, the power of God, always joined with goodness, although it is in need of nothing, nevertheless does not despise His work in men on account of their sins, but by granting forgiveness through repentance, He washes them from sins, and with fatherly compassion, He encourages and nourishes them to be gathered back to Himself. [Rabanus Maurus, Commentary on Wisdom, PL 109] 780-856AD
11:24 For you love all things that exist and hate nothing of what you have made; for you would not have fashioned anything if you had hated it. 11:25 And how would anything have remained, if you had not willed it, or what had not been called by you been preserved? 11:26 But you spare all things, because they are yours, O Lord, lover of life.
RABANUS. The good worker loves, preserves, and governs good work, and therefore, if ever human weakness strays from the way of truth by sinning, he endures with much patience, waiting for them to be converted for the better through repentance. Therefore, he makes his sun rise on the good and the evil, and sends rain on the just and the unjust (Matt. 5:45). But those who abuse the patience of God and do not turn to repentance are condemned by his just judgment, because the Lord is just and loves justice; his face has seen equity (Ps. 11:7). [Rabanus Maurus, Commentary on Wisdom, PL 109] 780-856AD